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Closer Look Benson's fortunes change as car tightens
Posted: Thursday February 17, 2000 04:12 PM
By Ryan Smithson, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Johnny Benson was labeled a dark horse to win the first Twin 125-miler after he led practice by a wide margin Tuesday. Instead, he barely made the Daytona 500 field on speed. The Michigander would have loved to have his unsponsored Tyler Jet-owned Pontiac in victory lane, which would have ensured a spot on the outside of row 2 for the Daytona 500. Benson secured the final assured spot for the Daytona 500. If he had finished 15th or lower in the Twin 125s, he would have had to rely on 1999 team points, with no guarantee to make the richest race on the Winston Cup circuit. "I knew we getting pretty nervous there at the end," Benson said. "I knew we were in trouble. That was all I knew." Benson started 10th in the 50-lap shootout and appeared ready to threaten for the lead; he was fast right out of the box. He immediately joined the lead pack and was running sixth as late as lap 20. But the weather has changed since Tuesday, when Benson led practice with a blistering lap of 194.070 mph. Thursday's temperatures were the same, but without clouds to cool the track, tires heated up faster than expected. As a result, speeds were significantly slower, even in the draft. The cars were much tighter Thursday, especially the Pontiacs of Benson and Ken Schrader. Those two drafted together throughout the 50-lapper, and each had a problem once the car's setup began to kick in. "The car was fine at first. The car was pretty neutral," Benson said. "Then I became the last car in line, so I had no one to free me up. As a result, Benson's car tightened up. The car struggled to turn in the corners and Benson slipped toward the rear. At one point, Benson was running a whopping four mph slower than leader Bill Elliott. "Once I got someone behind me, I was O.K.," Benson said. "But I was drafting with Kenny, and he was tight too, so we got slower together. I could not get the car down on the bottom, where we have run well all week." Schrader started sixth, but lost an average of a position every 10 laps before finishing 12th. "We were big-time tight," Schrader said. "We never got a chance to run out in front of everybody." Benson's car improved in the final 10 laps, but the lack of a caution killed his chances of catching the leaders.
"A caution would have helped everyone," Benson said. "We could have freed the car up and made some adjustments. We freed up it [before the Twin 125s] but it just wasn't enough."
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